


If Wishes were Fishes

by pterawaters



Category: Glee
Genre: Fix-It, Holidays, M/M, Magic, Not Beta Read, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-05 03:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5358539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pterawaters/pseuds/pterawaters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Fuckurt Advent, Day 5.</p>
<p>When Puck saves an old woman and her cat from a burning building, she tells him to make a wish. Kurt thinks it's silly, but Puck decides it's worth a shot. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds his wish has come true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Wishes were Fishes

"Are you sure you don't want to drive down to Lima this weekend?" Kurt asks, his glove-covered hand wrapped in Puck's bare one. "Celebrate at least one night of Hanukkah with your family?"

Shrugging, Puck says, "Nah. I already had all their presents delivered there. Gonna Skype them on Saturday." He huffs and chuckles a little. " _If_ Jackie doesn't have a date."

"She'd better not," Kurt says with a laugh, squeezing Puck's hand. "During _Hanukkah_? Your mom would kill her."

Puck opens his mouth to answer, but he smells a familiar scent when he breathes in. _Smoke_. "Do you smell that?"

Kurt sniffs and looks around, stopping suddenly, frozen with wide eyes. Puck follows his line of sight and sees one of the little houses on their block with smoke seeping from the crack under the door.

"Shit!" Puck says, already running toward the building. Over his shoulder, he calls to Kurt, "Call dispatch! 911!"

Puck is not at all prepared for this. He doesn't have the rest of his guys, or any equipment, other than the scarf around his neck. Pulling it up as he runs, Puck ties the scarf around his mouth and nose. There's a dark figure behind the front door, and just as he reaches the house, it opens.

The figure reaches back into the house, and then stumbles, falling to the floor. Eyes stinging in the smoke, Puck blinks a few times before he can see that it's an old lady, collapsed with her hand on a limp cat.

Puck hauls the old lady over his shoulder, grabs the cat with his other hand, and books it the hell away from the house. He makes it to the far side of the next lawn over before he decides they're far enough away, and stops to set the cat on the sidewalk. Carefully, he lays the old lady out on the ground, sighing with relief when he feels a strong pulse, and even breaths.

"Oh, my god!" Kurt says, his phone still to his ear as he approaches Puck. He takes off his own scarf, holding his phone to his ear with his shoulder as he carefully folds it and puts it under the old lady's head.

Puck turns his attention to the cat, which appears to be in much worse shape than its owner. Still, if the old lady was still moving around, the cat probably wasn't in the smoke for too long. It might not be a lost cause. He does the pet first aid that he knows, making sure the airway is clear and then pushing a breath in through its nose. A few chest compressions and a few more breaths, and then the cat starts to stir, taking its own breaths.

Sighing with relief, Puck looks up at Kurt as he tucks the cat into his coat to keep it warm. The old lady is starting to wake up, holding onto Kurt's hands as he speaks to her. She clears her throat and asks, "What about my Roger?"

Shit. Puck looks back at the house, at the flames leaping up through gaps in the roof. That structure is about to come down, no two ways about it. If Roger is still in the house, he's a goner.

"Who is Roger?" Kurt asks the lady. "What does he look like?"

"Orange striped, orange _tabby_ ," she says, allowing Kurt to help her up into a sitting position. "My cat, Roger!"

Puck pulls the cat back out of his coat. It's still woozy, but breathing. "It was close, there," Puck says to the woman, carefully placing the cat on her lap, "but I got him breathing again. You'll want to have a vet look at him."

Her hands, which seem like they're all knuckles, clutch at Puck's coat, and she cries, "Thank you! Oh, thank you!" Stronger than she looks, she pulls Puck closer and kisses his cheeks. "You saved him! You saved both of us!"

Puck can hear sirens approaching, probably the crew from the 27th, unless they were already busy. "It's my job, ma'am."

"Well, you _are_ off duty," Kurt says, giving Puck a smile and putting his arm around Puck's shoulders. "You didn't _have_ to go running toward that fire."

"Like hell I didn't," Puck mutters, as the woman pulls him in for another kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, bless you. Bless you," she says, pulling on Kurt and kissing his cheek too. "Both of you. I'm going to pray for you."

"Uh, thanks," Kurt says, his tone a little flat as he looks over at Puck.

The woman shakes her head. "No, I mean it. Tonight, you think about something you'd really like to have. I'll pray for you to get it."

Puck knows Kurt doesn't believe in anything having to do with prayer, and sometimes Puck doesn't either. But most of the time he does, so he meets the woman's eyes as the 27 engine pulls onto the block. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll appreciate it."

As he stands up, the engine parks in front of the old woman's house, and Puck recognizes the first guy out. Ramirez calls out to Puck as he heads approaches them. "Puckerman! Anyone left in the house?" He turns his attention toward the woman, "Anyone besides you, ma'am?"

"No," says the old woman, reaching up and letting Ramirez get her on her feet. "Just a few memories. Nothing else."

Ramirez nods and takes a blanket from a firefighter Puck doesn't recognize, who's headed for the hydrant. "Working on your day off, Puckerman?" he asks as he pulls the blanket around the old woman and her cat.

"Right place, right time," Puck replies, bumping his shoulder into Kurt's. "Your crew got it from here?"

"You bet!"

Puck takes Kurt's hand and tugs on it. "C'mon, babe. Let's get out of here."

Nodding, Kurt waves to the old woman, and Ramirez. "Bye! I'm sorry about your house!"

"Remember," calls the old woman. "Don't forget to wish for something!"

Kurt nods and smiles, but that word sticks with Puck for the rest of the day. "Wish".

~*~

Lying awake that night, Kurt snoring lightly on his shoulder, Puck thinks about that word again. He thinks about what he would want to wish for, and everything that comes to mind feels too insignificant. He almost wishes to go home for Hanukkah, but if he's being honest with himself, he doesn't really want to. It would be okay to see his family, but there are too many memories in Lima.

Too many bad ones.

And that thought sets off another.

If Puck could have anything, anything in the world, he'd wish for his best friend back. "Finn," he whispers out loud. "I wish for Finn."

It's stupid. Puck knows it's stupid. There are limits to what God can do, even if he does take notice of your prayers. He can't bring someone back from the dead. Dead is dead. The end. Finn is gone.

Puck sighs and moves Kurt around until he can lay on his side. He pulls Kurt's arm over his chest and holds it there. Kurt keeps snoring. Puck rubs at his wet eyes and tells himself the story of the Maccabees until he falls asleep.

~*~

When the alarm goes off in the morning, Puck groans and buries himself further into his pillow. It smells a little different, but in a familiar way, and Puck wonders if Kurt's been experimenting with colognes again. Keeping his eyes closed, because he's not even on until noon, Puck listens as Kurt turns off the alarm, gets out of bed, and pads out of the room, toward the kitchen.

So, when Puck feels Kurt turn over in bed next to him, he gets very confused.

Sitting up, his eyes open wide, Puck sees that Kurt is, indeed, next to him in bed, blinking up at him. "What's wrong?"

"Shh!" Puck hisses, cocking his head to the side as he listens. Those footsteps are definitely in their apartment, and not the one upstairs, and that is definitely someone opening the lid of their temperamental coffee maker, and filling it with grounds. He whispers to Kurt, "Who breaks in to make coffee?"

"Is that some sort of joke?" Kurt asks, yawning as he pushes his hand back through his hair.

Shaking his head, Puck gets his feet off the side of the bed. "Someone's in the kitchen!" Kurt looks at Puck like he's sprouting extra eyes on his forehead. "Someone broke in!"

"Do you have meningitis or something?" Kurt replies, pushing back the covers and getting out the other side of the bed, the side next to the bedroom door. "No one broke in. Here..."

Kurt leaves the bedroom and heads for the kitchen before Puck can stop him. He scrambles after Kurt, sure he's about to see his boyfriend get murdered by some coffee-junkie burglar, but what he finds is just as terrifying.

There's another man standing in the kitchen with Kurt, facing the counter as he pours Cheerios into a bowl. He's wearing only sleep pants, and the pattern of moles on his back is unmistakably familiar. Puck's voice breaks as he says, "Finn?"

"Yeah, babe?" Finn asks, looking over his shoulder as he finishes pouring his cereal. "What's up?" Kurt hands Finn the milk, like it isn't impossible that Finn's _here_ , eating _breakfast_ , in their _kitchen_.

"No," Puck says, grabbing onto the entryway as the world starts to tilt. "No, you're not supposed to be here."

Finn finishes pouring the milk, hands it back to Kurt (as Kurt starts pouring out three mugs of coffee), and grabs a spoon from the silverware drawer. He even knows how to hip-check the drawer back into place as it gets stuck. He turns and faces Puck. "It's not _that_ late. Besides, I showered last night after the gym. I just gotta throw on my clothes and catch the L in twenty. I'll be there in plenty of time to give class."

Puck looks over at Kurt, who doesn't seem phased at all. "What the hell is going on?" Puck demands, and that seems to get their attention. Finn pauses, his spoon halfway to his lips and dripping milk back into the bowl; Kurt stops pouring and sets down the coffee pot.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Kurt asks, setting down the mug in his other hand. He takes several steps toward Puck. "What's wrong?"

A hysterical laugh escapes through Puck's nose. "What's wrong?" He points at Finn. " _This_! This is wrong! Finn _died_ six years ago! What is he doing in our apartment?" Puck remembers first waking up, and blurts out, "Was he sleeping in _our bed_?"

Without answering Puck, Kurt looks back at Finn, and the two of them have some sort of conversation with their faces. 

"Stop that!" Puck cries at them. "I'm not being crazy! When I went to sleep, Finn was dead, and now this morning…" Puck gestures toward Finn with both hands, letting them drop when he can plainly see that neither Kurt nor Finn believes him.

Finn sets down his bowl on the counter behind him without looking, and then takes three big steps toward Puck. "It was just a dream, Puck," Finn says, sliding his hands up Puck's forearms and cupping his elbows. "I'm okay."

Puck turns his hands over to grasp at Finn's arms, and _fuck_! He feels so real. Puck looks up and study's Finn's face. He looks a little older than Puck remembers him. Of course, Puck last remembers him as nineteen, kissing Puck goodbye and heading out to meet some of his classmates for a study group. Now he's got slight creases in the corners of his eyes, and thicker stubble than Puck ever saw on him before.

A short laugh escaping him, Puck asks, "You're okay?"

Finn nods.

"Fuck! You're okay!" Puck pulls Finn into a tight hug. "Oh, god. I missed you so much!"

Finn chuckles, but he returns the hug tightly, swaying that way he always did when he hugged Puck. He even sets a kiss against Puck's jaw the way he always did.

Puck's crying. He's not even ashamed to admit it. 

Nothing seems real, except for the way Puck's fingers dig into the muscles on Finn's back. Kurt rubs his hand up and down Puck's back, not quite joining the hug, but there if Puck needs him. Puck pulls Kurt in with one arm, unwilling to let him go even though Finn is back. Or Finn never left.

The details don't seem important just this second.

~*~

As time passes, Puck keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop. He keeps waiting to wake up. 

After Finn heads to the school where he apparently teaches, and Kurt leaves for his job at the online magazine he works for, Puck wanders around the apartment. Much of it is the same, but there's traces of Finn _everywhere_. Finn's clothes are stuffed in the closet with his and Kurt's. One of the Xbox controllers is labeled "Finn's NOT PUCK's", which makes Puck laugh brokenly. Finn's handwriting has written about half the items on the running shopping list Puck and Kurt keep. 

The mug Finn painted in third grade is sitting in the cupboard, next to all the matching ones Kurt picked out. Kurt won't even let Puck bring home his "#1 Firefighter" mug Jackie sent him last year, but he'll let Finn put this monstrosity here? Puck has to clench his hands and back away before he does something stupid like smash the mug on the floor.

There's a third toothbrush, and a third razor in the bathroom.

Finn's there in most of the pictures Puck and Kurt have hanging around the apartment. Puck remembers taking all of these pictures (the one at Niagra Falls, the one at Kurt's twenty-second birthday, the one in Central Park back in New York), but Finn _wasn't there_. Finn died.

Finn died and Puck spent a good two years heartbroken, until he and Kurt started spending time together, and then started dating. 

How is this happening?

Oh. Puck made a wish.

That can't be it, though, right? Wishes don't just bring people back from the dead. Looking up at the ceiling, Puck speaks out loud, even though he's alone. "Why the hell would you do this, dude? There have to be people who deserve something like this more than I do!"

There's no answer, not that Puck really expected one, but Finn's back from dead – or, he never died in the first place – anything might be possible. 

Puck gets ready and goes to work.

Janice asks him what's wrong, and Puck doesn't have an answer for her. She puts him on organizing and cleaning out the storage compartments of the engine. It's just what he needs. When a call comes in, Janice holds Puck back, "I'm sending Perry in your place. You're with the ladder truck today, Puckerman."

There's no point in asking why. Puck knows he's a space cadet today, his mind drifting back to Finn's unexpected presence in his life. "Thanks."

At lunch time, Puck opens his locker to get one of the protein bars, since he doesn't have the appetite for anything else. The picture of him and Finn from when they first started dating, a selfie in Finn's dorm room that Finn printed out for him, is still there at the back. There's nothing different about it. Puck takes it out and looks at it, resting his forehead on Dorian's locker next door. 

This was a week before Finn's accident.

The accident never happened.

~*~

When Puck wakes up at the station in the morning, the pictures in his locker are the same – they still have Finn in them. Somehow, Puck thought maybe it would just be the one day, and then Finn would be gone again. Hands shaking, he picks up his phone and directs it to Finn's contact information. Even though it's been six years, Puck never deleted it. He wonders if in this version of his life, where Finn survives, Finn's number is still the same.

He dials the number, fully expecting to reach some stranger. Instead, it's Finn's sleepy voice, "Mm, Puck? You okay?"

Letting out a shaky breath, Puck takes a moment to answer. "Can you come by the station? Before you go to work?"

Finn clears his throat. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. You want me to bring Kurt with me? Is everything okay?"

"I just need to see you before tonight," Puck says.

Half an hour later, Finn is walking into the station, heading straight for Puck like he's been there at least a dozen times. "Puck?"

"C'mere," Puck says, pulling Finn into his bunk room, and sitting Finn down on the left bed, which is the one Puck always uses when he's on shift. 

"If you're hoping to hook up," Finn says with a low laugh, "you know we'll get caught, like last time."

Puck feels his pulse jump at the suggestion, but more important things are going on right now. "Do you remember that summer after your freshman year in college?"

A soft smile spreads over Finn's face and he reaches for Puck, putting his hand on the side of Puck's neck. "Yeah."

"Did you wreck your truck?" Puck looks up at Finn, begging him with a look to tell the truth now.

Brow furrowing, Finn nods his head slowly. "Yeah, you don't remember?"

Puck chuckles wetly, folding his hands together and trying not to lose it again. "What I remember and what happened don't always line up."

Finn doesn't look like he understands, but he nods. "Yeah. I was crossing an intersection and a drunk driver crashed into my truck. I had a concussion and a broken collarbone." Finn smiles and leans forward, bumping his forehead against Puck's temple. "You took good care of me afterward."

"You could've died," Puck says, a sour taste in his throat as he remembers the funeral.

"I didn't."

"No," Puck says, sighing as he leans into Finn. "No, you didn't."

Puck's wish _worked_.

~*~

Puck gets the rest of his story back in bits and pieces. He and Finn were together when Kurt started hanging out with them, and then dating them. All three of them moved to Chicago when Kurt got his job with the magazine. 

A week after Finn's miraculous appearance, Puck goes over to the 27 on his day off. He finds Ramirez and asks, "Hey, do you know what happened to that old lady from last week? The one from that house on Huron?"

"She's good," Ramirez says, picking up a plate from the table. "Brought us cookies. Apparently her daughter has her and the cat all set up in a sublet until the insurance money comes through for a new house." Ramirez grins. "She was looking for you."

Nodding, Puck takes a cookie and says, "If you see her again, tell her thanks from me, okay?"

Ramirez laughs. "Thanks for the cookie?"

"No, thanks for something else. She'll understand."

~*~

As Hanukkah passes by, and then Christmas, and then New Year's Eve, Puck starts to think that maybe having Finn back is some sort of temporary, holiday season miracle. When he wakes up on New Year's Day and Finn is still there, is face mashed against the back of Puck's neck, Puck starts to believe maybe this isn't so temporary.

A year later, when Puck's helping Finn pick out a Christmas present for Kurt, he realizes he's stopped holding his breath, waiting for Finn to disappear again. Smiling, Puck points to the tie he's sure Kurt will like better, and wraps his arm around Finn's waist. "I love you," he says to Finn.

"Yeah, love you too," Finn says, still frowning at the ties. "Are you _sure_ about this one?"

Laughing, Puck takes the other one from Finn's hand and sets it back down on the display. "Yeah, I'm sure, babe. He'll look great in this one."

Finn smirks. "Kurt always looks great."

"True." Puck holds Finn's hand on the way to the cash register and smiles. Finn is back, and Puck gets to keep him this time. 

All because of a wish.


End file.
